gender

Gender refers to both the cultural meaning ascribed to a person’s sex or body as well as our internal sense of self or personal experience of our own body. One’s gender identity can be consistent with or different from one’s assigned sex at birth. While masculinity and femininity are traditional terms to identify gendered characteristics, values, meanings, and cultural expectations, there are many more terms that capture a broader spectrum than this simplistic binary. The repetition of traditional gendered narratives and images in media has shaped cultural norms around what it means to be a man or a woman, masculine or feminine, often leaving little room for experimentation, play and nonconformity. See topic overview PDF for more.